Is there a shelf life for acrylic paint?

[Whiterook]

The answer to this question sought on the Internet is wildly varying! The range seems to me from 5-years (Vallejo guidance) to Infinity! …the majority of answers I find tends towards the latter. Environment stored and keeping cal tight factor in, but I noted several of mine that are probably nearing a decade are still fine, though with some settling at the bottom of the bottle. I have Tamiya bottles that are a little older that are similar.

I did find the following, which seems a good rule of thumb…

An easy way to tell if gouache or acrylics have gone bad is to smell them. They often develop a sour, mildew stench when they're past their prime. They may still be useable, but you can tell they're on their way out when they start to smell sour and off. Shelf life: 2-5 years, until they start to smell sour or dry.

I did, recently buy a Badger Paint Mixer (see here) that I bought a couple months back, but I’ve not used it yet.

What’s your experience with paint life?

[McCoy]

My experience is fairly good as I've not throwed away that much paints over the years.

[mikeh]

I have good luck with acrylics, If too thick I mix with a little 91% rubbing alcohol. But only on the palette, I have not tried thinning a partial bottle all at once.

[frank]

I have some of the old Citadel (games workshop) paints from over 20 years ago and I have found some of the metallics have lost their ability to actually colour anything most of the normal colours are fine. The main problems I have is the tops, the flip lids are starting to split and that is doing the paint no good,

[Whiterook]

Good data, guys… much appreciated!

I bought an electric paint mixer that should help with the settled paint, mixing everything closer to what they were new. The only flip lids I have are on some Citadel pots I have and the lids were always troublesome…they are all washes. The plastic bottle stuff (mainly Vallejo and AK) seal absolutely fine. The Tamiya glass bottles dry around the screw top, but careful cleaning now and then has kept them nicely sealed. Basically, the paint has sat still too long and some have settling issues… not sure on any chemical breakdown, as I’ve not found one yet that doesn’t cover like it did when bought.

[Geek44]

I get to use pretty much 100% on my acrylics. I use Tamiya, Gunze and Mr. Hobby. I only use them in the airbrush.
After pouring paint into my mixing jar, I wipe the threads of the paint jar clean so the lid screws back on tightly. I NEVER shake them, I always stir to avoid paint on the inside of the lid. Whatever paint is left in the airbrush gets poured back into the paint jar. I dilute for spraying by eye so it doesn't matter if the paint in the jar gets thinner over time.

[Whiterook]

Jul 6, 2023 18:07:02 GMT -5 Geek44 said:

I get to use pretty much 100% on my acrylics. I use Tamiya, Gunze and Mr. Hobby. I only use them in the airbrush.
After pouring paint into my mixing jar, I wipe the threads of the paint jar clean so the lid screws back on tightly. I NEVER shake them, I always stir to avoid paint on the inside of the lid. Whatever paint is left in the airbrush gets poured back into the paint jar. I dilute for spraying by eye so it doesn't matter if the paint in the jar gets thinner over time.

AWESOME advice on that! I must confess, I’d not been fastidious on cleaning the threads of the jars and have paid the price! Interesting on the ‘never shake’…that makes total sense!

[Geek44]

I've found that shaking the jars causes paint to glue the lids on. Very hard to remove.